Fighting in Sudan's civil war escalated on Tuesday with the warring sides trying to gain the upper hand in urban warfare that is unlikely to produce a clear victor.
The spike in violence suggests that neither army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan nor his nemesis Gen Mohamed Dagalo of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is attaching much importance to the ongoing negotiations sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia to hammer out a ceasefire.
They are also trying to agree on mechanisms to implement a declaration of principles reached last week to protect civilians and carve out corridors for humanitarian aid.
Several ceasefires declared in the last four weeks have failed to halt the fighting.
Residents said fighting escalated sharply across Khartoum on Tuesday as the army defended key bases against the RSF fighters it has been battling since April 15.
Air strikes, blasts and gunfire could be heard in several locations in the sprawling city, including south of Khartoum. There was also heavy shelling across the Nile from Khartoum in parts of the adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman, according to witnesses.
The fighting constitutes the latest bout of civil war in the vast Afro-Arab nation of about 44 million in north-east Africa.
In nearly seven decades since independence, Sudan has been bedevilled by years of violence in its outlying regions in the south and west.
However, none of these civil wars were ever fought out in Khartoum, a Nile-side city of seven million people who have long endured the devastating impact of the civil wars and a woeful economy.
The fighting in Khartoum, moreover, has triggered violence in other parts of Sudan, primarily in the restive western Darfur region, where a civil war raged for years in the 2000s, leaving 250,000 dead and about 2 million displaced.
Officials say the recent fighting has killed 676 people and injured more than 5,000. The real toll, however, is widely thought to be much higher. The fighting has also sparked a humanitarian crisis, with at least 200,000 people seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, mostly Egypt and Chad, and another 700,000 displaced.
Those who have remained in the capital are struggling to survive with food supplies dwindling, power supply is erratic and health services collapsing. Lawlessness is also spreading. Social media in Sudan is abuzz with reports of looting, abuse of civilians and rape.
“The situation is unbearable. We left our house to go to a neighbour's house in Khartoum, escaping from the war, but the bombardment follows us wherever we go,” said Ayman Hassan, a 32-year-old resident.
“We don't know what the citizens did to deserve a war in the middle of the houses.”
The army has mostly relied on air strikes and shelling in the fighting, only occasionally engaging in ground fighting. This tactic, claims the RSF, has led to many casualties among civilians.
On Tuesday, the RSF claimed in a statement it had captured 700 army troops in a counterattack in Bahri, releasing a video of rows of men in uniform sitting on the ground as its fighters celebrated around them. The report could not immediately be verified. The army also issued a denial.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
